


Nightingale Dreams

by missema



Series: Stolen Hearts [2]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Betrayal, Dreams, F/M, Hoping, Lovers, Thieves Guild, Wishing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-11
Updated: 2012-08-11
Packaged: 2017-11-11 21:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/483254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missema/pseuds/missema
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karliah looks back on her time with Gallus, remembering him after he's gone.</p><p>A short kmeme fill for Gallus/Karliah in the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightingale Dreams

The way she remembered him was in flashes, parts of scenes that could have happened once or a thousand times.  In her mind, she could see him in the Cistern, just as clearly as if he were still standing there.  He was bent over, looking at something on his desk, and the sight of him made her smile.  Studying, always studying something, that was how Gallus when he wasn't on the job.  He liked a life of books and ancient mysteries on one hand and the other busy unlocking a door or picking a pocket.  
  
But that wasn't what Karliah loved about him.  There was the appeal of all of it, a natural leader whom people just responded to and respected, a good man who had a sense of honor and a talented thief with an undeniable genius.  All of those qualities made him who he was, but Karliah just loved Gallus, with his goofy jokes and crooked smile, the way he'd whisper Nightingale in her ear when he held her in bed.  
  
The Guild was doing well under his leadership and the two of them along with it.  He was wealthy and she comfortable on her own, but together they would never need work again.  A few times he'd spoken idly about the two of them retiring and passing on leadership, even though it wasn't really an option.  He wanted to be with her more than he wanted to steal things, and he wanted to make her happy without having to deal with the problems of the guild.  When he spoke of such dreams, Karliah just smiled and indulged him, playing into the fantasy while knowing the truth.  
  
Gallus was the guild.  Without him, they would splinter into something unrecognizable.  But she enjoyed the game of it, the whispers in her ear of leaving Riften, the feeling of his fingers drifting over her skin as he made promises that neither of them intended for him to keep.  
  
"We'll leave, my little Nightingale and go live in Whiterun.  It's not a bad little city and we have contacts there.  Not too cold like up north, and you won't fall off a mountain like in Markarth.  Though I'd really like to go to Winterhold from time to time, and speak with Enthir."  
  
"I'd like that."  Karliah would say, laying against his chest.  
  
"Or we could go smaller, to a place like Ivarstead.  I'm not much of a farmer, but I wouldn't mind going to High Hrothgar.  They must have a great deal of knowledge there."  
  
"Anything you want, my scholar."  She said, kissing him on the nose.  
  
And  so it would go, and she thought it would always be like that, until one day he'd come and tell her on a whim that he'd bought a house in some city, and it was just waiting for her.  In her heart, she'd hoped it would remain like that, them working in the guild and Gallus keeping his plans just fantasies of the future.   
  
After Snow Veil Sanctum, Karliah sat alone and in strange bed, wishing that she'd made Gallus retire.  Maybe she'd still have him if she did.


End file.
